Yes, he sounded very articulate and has done a great deal of research. He says Palestineans are the descendants of the original Jewish tribes while the European Jews who claim to be descendants are actually the descendants of converts - Judaism once having been a proletyzing (sp?) religion as both Christianity and Islam remain. Obviously, huge controversy in Israel - he is Israeli.

Part 1 was great. The discussion afterwards was extremely entertaining - some of the people from the art world had not heard of Chuck Berry. One who had questioned his inclusion on the basis that "he was a pop musician, not a serious artist".

Shlomo Sand's book has serious errors. In reality, the total amount of Khazar and Slavic ancestry in Ashkenazic Jews appears to be 20 percent or less - while the amount of Middle Eastern ancestry is about 60-70 percent. The genetic studies are valid science and do not contain the contradictions that Sand imagines. The reason Palestinians are genetically related to Jews is because both groups descend in part from the Israelites. J1 and J2, two of the most prominent genetic markers in Ashkenazic and Sephardic populations, both originate from the ancient Middle East - including the land of Canaan/Israel as well as from immigrants from Asia Minor who were related to Armenians and Kurds.

Take a look at my book "The Jews of Khazaria, Second Edition", which has sections (Chapter 10 and Appendix D) explaining how we know almost every Jewish population in the world is descended from the ancient Israelites. The first edition of my book is cited in Sand's book. The second edition is available in softcover and hardcover formats from UK bookshops. http://www.khazaria.com/brook.html

Kevin Brook wrote:Take a look at my book "The Jews of Khazaria, Second Edition", which has sections (Chapter 10 and Appendix D) explaining how we know almost every Jewish population in the world is descended from the ancient Israelites.

I'm not a scientist and haven't read Sands's book (yet?), so I'm in no position to judge the relative merits of the arguments. Clearly, there's no disputing the results of sound (i.e replicable) scientific experiments. Even if the science stands up, however, it shouldn't be used for ideological ends. Equally, the desire to debunk ideology, perhaps in the hope of promoting peace, shouldn't ignore scientifically established facts.